Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the decision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Russian athletes runs counter to the Olympic Charter.
According to the Russian president, WADA "decision in this part runs counter to the Olympic Charter." Therefore, "we have all the reasons to file an appeal" to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), he noted.
It "should be analyzed," the head of state said. "What lays on the surface and what I see right away - there are no concerns about the Russian Olympic Committee. If they are no concerns there, then the country should be able to perform under the national flag," Putin noted.
"Punishment cannot be collective and affect those people who have nothing to do with certain violations," TASS cited him as saying.
"I think that WADA specialists understand this as well," he noted. "There are grounds to believe that not care for clean global sports is behind this, but rather political considerations that have nothing to do with the interests of sports and the Olympic movement," the Russian leader concluded.
